Monday, August 17, 2015

Need to evaluate powder coatings offered by different
manufacturers? Some products have different prices but appear to be identical.
Which is the better value, which should you buy, and which product best suits
your particular need? The following is information on evaluating powder
coatings to help answer the above questions.

In order to assess powder coatings, you first need to
determine the minimum thickness required to meet your needs. The basic requirement
will be to figure out at what thickness does the product you are evaluating
hide the underlying surface. The coating thickness of the
same product may vary depending on the substrate needing coverage. Using this method, it may be easy to compare
products. If one powder has a much higher specific gravity than another, but hides at about the same thickness, then the lower specific gravity
product will provide more square feet per pound
when applied at the same film thickness and
thus provide a better cost per square foot.

If the products you are assessing are close, it may be
necessary to spray out a test run using both products. The test run must be long enough to
accurately figure out how many square feet of surface area are covered per
pound of powder. Careful monitoring of
thickness and square footage is essential for accurate results during the
product test. Following the trial run,
it should be easy to compare the products, determining which provides the best
gain by calculating the cost per square foot at the thickness required.

Acquiring an accurate measure of the value of coatings plays
an important role in cost control. In
addition, it is essential to control the powder coating operation to avoid
putting on more powder than necessary.
It will do little good to buy a high-value powder if the application is
chaotic and too much powder is being applied to the parts. So your system efficiency will be an
important part of your usage factor. Another important decision is whether you
will be spraying to waste or reclaiming this product. All these factors play a role in determining
your true cost.

For more information from TCI
Powder Coatings on powder coating evaluation, please refer to TCI’s Troubleshooting
Guide or click here to contact
us today to speak with our experienced team about how we can help you with your
powder coating needs.